Senators tough guy forward Chris Neil has a bit of a bad reputation around the league. Seeing his hit on New York’s Brian Boyle last night that wound up giving Boyle a concussion, the talk today was over whether or not Neil would hear from the league.
According to both Sportsnet’s Nick Kypreos and Renaud Lavoie of RDS, Neil will not have a date with Brendan Shanahan. According to Kypreos, Neil’s hit is almost the exact opposite of the one Raffi Torres delivered to knock out Marian Hossa and earn himself a 25-game suspension.
Kypreos says Neil’s hit wasn’t late, he didn’t leave his feet to make contact with Boyle, and the head wasn’t the principle point of contact. With all of those points being big ones for deciding to take action, Neil’s hit passes the test regardless of how ugly it looked.
The hit left Rangers coach John Tortorella steamed up saying it was just as bad as Torres’ hit on Hossa. You can’t fault a coach for trying to use politics and earn an edge for his team. The Sens, meanwhile, will now have Neil in the lineup for Game 6 as they look to eliminate the top seeded Rangers.